Woke up about 5 am and did some journaling in my tent. Took my time because we're taking a zero today. Frank's 'friend' Jesse is coming up to do trail magic for us. He planned to arrive about noon. I say 'friend' because her cousin connected them and they've been texting back and forth. They've never met and they only talked on the phone for the first time when we were in Mammoth. Eventually I got up and ate a bit before heading off to do a short 3.5-mile hike up Lambert Dome.
Hiked up quickly (it was easy with barely anything in my pack) and saw some great views from the top.
Came down and got to the General Store about 11 am. Found Frank, Magnet, and Narrator sitting there. The store was closed because of a power outage so we just hung out on the picnic tables outside. The store finally opened about 12:30 but Jesse hadn't arrived yet. We hung out and Jesse finally arrived about 2pm. He brought two hikers with him, one of whom (Rugrat) Frank started the trail with. Jesse was really nice and we snacked on canteloupe, sourdough bread, brie, peaches, and avacadoes. After a bit, we walked the dog he's dogsitting, Scooby, through the campground and then drove down to Yosemite Valley.
The valley was pretty spectacular with it's insanely high vertical rock walls.
We parked and walked around a bit, checking out the scenery and hugging a few trees.
I used the good cell service to do some tent shopping as the zipper on mine seems to be failing. Problem is most places are sold out of lightweight backpacking tents (since more people are going outside and production is down - both results of COVID). Once we walked around, we went to dinner at a pizza place with pretty outrageously expensive pizzas. The view of the sunset reflecting off Half Dome was hard to beat though.
After eating, it was getting late so we drove the hour and a half back to Tuolumne Meadows. Upon arrival, we unloaded Jesse's car and set up his tent in the backpacking area. There's a pow-wow of (likely) JMT hikers sitting around a fire and singing close to our campsite. I put in my earplugs for the first time and fell asleep with no problems.
Glad you had time to hug trees, eat good food, and be awestruck by those incredible views! Wish I were there!
ReplyDeleteGlad that someone there is hugging the trees! Scooby is also a really good name for that dog. Half dome looks amazing with that sunset.
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